Is He Ready?

NFL

Tough Times Often Await First-year Nfl Quarterbacks Like The Jaguars' Byron Leftwich.

September 18, 2003|By Charles Robinson, Sentinel Staff Writer

JACKSONVILLE -- There was a certain serenity filling those white tennis shoes. An undeniable calm beneath the blue jeans and starched shirt.

Byron Leftwich looked relaxed as he reclined against his locker Sunday, much the way the rookie quarterback had conducted his first regular-season touchdown drive for the Jacksonville Jaguars. With a soft, round face, his words eased like a Cadillac on a Sunday afternoon. He was momentarily shielded from starting quarterback Mark Brunell's almost Biblical misfortune -- walled off from the cloud of media locusts swallowing the veteran only a few feet away.

"It's not about showing the coaches something," Leftwich said of his lone series in last weekend's 38-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills, a 90-yard scoring autopsy of a garbage-time defense. "I'm just here to play football."

If this were fiction, a ghost of NFL history might have appeared at just that moment -- perhaps Heath Shuler to Charles Dickens' Jacob Marley -- and tapped Leftwich on the shoulder. He might have directed attention to Brunell's furious circle. As if to warn the rookie that chaos is one locker and one coaching nod away.

Forget about right or wrong for a moment. If you believe in economics and footballomics, then you also believe Leftwich's course to a starting job has been assured. But those familiar with the path of a rookie signal-caller know it floats through insatiable and unforgiving waters.

"There were times when I messed the play up in the huddle, and one of the other guys would have to call it for me," remembered Dan Marino, perhaps the most successful rookie quarterback in history. "Then when he was finished calling the play, I'd say, `OK, on two.' "

Indeed, if Leftwich is instituted as a starter in the coming months, he'll be entering an unforgettable plateau in his career. At best, it's a bruised vista of lessons. At worst, it's a place where "quarterback" becomes a synonym for "carcass."

ROOKIE STRUGGLES COMMON

Troy Aikman ran as a rookie. Thirty-eight times for 302 yards. Not because he was the first in an evolutionary trend toward multidimensional quarterbacks. Not because he was seizing opportunity. Aikman ran because, well, there wasn't anything else to do.

"I didn't know what to do with the ball," he remembers with a chuckle. "I'd drop back and kind of look around a bit -- act like I knew what I was doing, even though I didn't. Then I'd take off running."

These are the trying things Aikman summons about his NFL rookie season. When he was thrust into a starting spot perhaps a breath or two prematurely. Getting pummeled, getting up, and getting pummeled again. Once lining up under his guard to take a snap -- "That was a little embarrassing." And walking off the field broken, only to have his quarterbacks coach massage the life back into him.

"I went 0-11 and got beat up a lot," he said. "But I'm not against guys playing as rookies. Really I don't think there is a hard-and-fast rule of how you do it. The most important thing is that a guy doesn't lose confidence. If he's not the kind of person who can weather that storm early on, it might be better to wait."

He says this knowing the adversity has consumed many. The aforementioned Shuler, who went in as a highly touted first-round pick, never recovered after completing only 45 percent of his passes in eight rookie starts. Or former No. 2 pick Ryan Leaf, who split at the seams during a rookie season that saw him throw two touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

The failure is practically predetermined. The best quarterbacks go to the worst teams. Coaches feel pressure to get their highly paid commodities on the field. And to do so, offenses are often pared back to accommodate the inexperienced. All of which lends to the history books pointing out mostly bad things about rookie quarterbacks: High interception totals, low completion percentages, and a lot of losses. Fans get impatient, and the rookies themselves often spend a season doing whatever they can to stay alive.

"I started four games as a rookie and played in seven, and no matter what the defense was doing, I'd look for [wide receiver] Cris Collinsworth," former Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason remembered. "No matter what we'd run, I'd lock onto Cris. Then I'd come off the field and they'd say `What the hell are you doing?' And I'd say, `I'm throwing it to number 80 because I know where he's going.' "

Over the last 20 years -- of the rookies who got at least six starts -- many had horrendous quarterback ratings: Drew Bledsoe (65.0 with New England), Kerry Collins (61.9 with Carolina), Donovan McNabb (60.1 with Philadelphia), Troy Aikman (55.7 with Dallas) and John Elway (54.9 with Denver). And although guys like Indianapolis' Peyton Manning (71.2) and Cleveland's Tim Couch (73.2) had respectable ratings, their teams went a combined 5-27.